© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brown Paper Design, Classic Party Rentals, Danielle Rowe, Felcity Couture Bridal, LaTavola, Pos Paperie, Studio 28 Photography, Sweet & Saucy, The Craven Estate, The Green Ribbon Party Planning Co.
Post categories: Photo Shoot, The Blog

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No all out love fest would be complete with out a film of the festivities. Try this perfect number on for size shot by Well Spun Wedding Films…

From the Bride…We are from Los Angeles and our favorite weekend getaway is Palm Springs so it only felt natural to have our wedding there.  We chose the Colony Palms Hotel for it’s romantic Old Hollywood vibe and set out to have the wedding of our dreams — California chic, elegant but unfussy and most importantly, lots of fun.  Our wedding was a blend of cultures and traditions — a “Chewish” (Chinese-Jewish!) wedding, if you will.  We tried to infuse our backgrounds into our event in an organic way, such as utilizing red as our theme color (the lucky wedding color to the Chinese), dancing the traditional Jewish “hora” and making custom chocolate-dipped fortune cookies with a Yiddish message inside. The wedding was a success not for how fancy and ostentatious it was but for how well we felt it reflected our true personalities — for instance, because of our love for the music, we had a surprise gospel choir appear in the middle of our ceremony!  Our guests loved their surprise performance and it really energized our ceremony and made it fun.

Budget was a concern and we couldn’t afford to hire a full-service wedding planner so the wedding was designed and organized in a DIY fashion. Etsy.com was a very valuable and cost-efficient resource in finding little independent vendors to provide the details (flower girl baskets, place cards, table numbers, etc).  And while Monique Lhuillier would have been a dream dress, I was able to find a very affordable, well-made dress from designer Jenny Yoo, who is predominantly known for her bridesmaid attire (the bridal dress savings left room for one big splurge on fabulous must-have Jimmy Choo shoes!).  Vendors were hired based on lots of internet research and some trial and error.  Our florist we originally selected sadly proved to be unreliable and we were lucky enough in the eleventh hour to land the help of Danielle Rowe at Brown Paper Design.  Brown Paper Design is genuinely the most phenomenal floral designer and was able to execute my dream vision all the way with total respect to my budgetary restrictions. Sara Allen from onelove photography is brilliantly talented and our photographs are everything we could have hoped for.  And Well Spun Wedding Films was able to document all of the fun and magic in this sweet little 4-minute “music video” here.  All in all, we could not have asked for anything more…it really was the most perfect day of our lives!

Wedding Photography: onelove photography / Wedding Cinematography: Well Spun Wedding Films / Flowers: Brown Paper Design / Event Design: The Bride / Ceremony + Reception Location: Colony Palms Hotel / Wedding Invitations: Minted / Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Wedding Dress: Jenny Yoo / DJ: Brian Lee of Elevated Pulse Productions / Cupcakes: Over the Rainbow Cupcakes / Lighting: Classic Party Rentals / Photo Booth: Snapz / Custom Fans + Menus: Citrine Designs / Floral Hair Pin: Modagefloral / Flower Girl Baskets: A Stylish Design / Custom “Mr. and Mrs.” Signs: ArmyMomofTwins / Custom Chair Signs: Yinvivo / Custom Ringbearer Dishes: Wise Impressions / Custom Chocolate Fortune Cookies: Chocolate Fortunes

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Stylish Design, ArmyMomofTwins, Brown Paper Design, California Weddings, Chocolate Fortunes, Citrine Designs, Classic Party Rentals, Colony Palms Hotel, Cultural Beauty, Elevated Pulse Productions, Jenny Yoo, Jimmy Choo, Minted, Modagefloral, onelove photography, Over the Rainbow Cupcakes, Palm Springs, Snapz, Well Spun Wedding Films, Wise Impressions, Yinvivo
Post categories: The Blog, Traditional Elegance

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The charm doesn’t stop there. Living Cinema was there to capture even more of this delightful day…

West Hollywood to Culver City from Living Cinema on Vimeo.

From the Bride… Roland and I are so excited to have our wedding featured on SMP! When Caroline told us the great news and asked us to write a short summary of our wedding it was a rather daunting task considering all the months of blood, sweat and tears that went into planning it. But as you can see from the photos it all worked out well!

Roland and I originally met in 2005, and while there was a mutual attraction from the start, we did not actually start dating until the spring of 2007. It’s funny how life can be all about timing. But it was love at second-sight and things moved quite fast after that. I graduated from the University of California, Irvine soon after we met again and about two months later I moved to Chicago to be with Roland. We got engaged in 2009 and were married in June of 2010.

We decided to have the wedding in Southern California where I grew up and had originally wanted to plan a weekend getaway in Palm Springs so that we could have ample time to spend with our loved ones. For a number of reasons this did not work out but we could not have wished for a better alternative. We had a traditional Filipino-Catholic ceremony at St. Timothy Catholic Church and funny enough, our priest mentioned the Lakers a few times during the mass (the Lakers had just won the championship)! Our reception was held immediately after the ceremony at the SmogShoppe. We choose the SmogShoppe because of its dedication to sustainability and loved knowing that we were supporting a locally owned and eco-friendly establishment.

Roland and I wanted our wedding to be a nice mix between fun and modern with traditional and sophisticated. Our colors were mustard yellow, grey, black and white. I asked my bridesmaids to wear any dress they liked as long as it was a grey tone, and I have to say that I loved seeing their fabulous, individual styles come through. Roland had his groomsmen all wear black suits and gifted them these really awesome mustard yellow Paul Smith socks. The flower girls wore these adorable ruffle dresses from JCrew and the boys in the wedding wore either a mustard yellow tie or a bowtie from Bacon Handmade Neckwear.

Roland and I wanted to incorporate our Filipino heritage in the reception as well. It was really difficult to get a local Filipino restaurant to cater so we opted instead to have a Filipino dessert buffet that featured many of our favorite desserts. Our guests loved it and all the desserts were gone before I could even make my way over.

There are so many other aspects of the wedding that we would love to highlight such as the amazing succulent centerpieces that Danielle of Brown Paper Design made for us and the luminaries that my cousin Jason had made with our little cartoon image on. Jason’s company, Candles West, also provided the beautiful white luminaries that decorated the patio area of the SmogShoope. Danielle of Paper Palate also did a fabulous job with the food. We served it family-style to help create a more intimate atmosphere. And the night would not have been complete without the custom-made photo booth by Tyler and Terrance at PhotoboxLA! Terrance had made the photo booth for their wedding at the SmogShoppe and it fits perfectly in the closet. Our guests LOVED going back to the photo booth throughout the night and we always laugh when we look at the album of all those photos!

Roland’s favorite memory from the day was when I tapped him on the shoulder during our “First Look” photo session. You can actually see this moment in the lovely short video that Curtis of Living Cinema made. I actually have two memories that really stand out to me from that day – one was walking down the aisle with my father. No one warned me what an emotional experience it can be to walk into a room full of family and friends all looking at you with so much love. I had to work really hard not to break down in tears. The second memory was when I danced with my grandfather during the reception. He went through depression after my grandmother passed away and during that short dance he was like his old, happy, dance-loving self again! I couldn’t stop crying during that dance.

One of the most challenging parts of planning the wedding was navigating various aspects of family politics, but we got through it with a lot of compromise. Another huge challenge was all the DIY tasks we had set for ourselves. If there’s one piece of advice we would like to give other couples, it’s to set a deadline when it comes to DIY things. If we could go back in time we would have had everything finished at least a week before. This way you can relax and enjoy the days leading up to the wedding. But overall the wedding day went really well and as you can see from the photos and the video there was a lot of love from all our family and friends. We are so thankful to all of them and also to all of our amazing vendors – you all made that day possible and wonderful.

Venue: SmogShoppe / Wedding Photography: Caroline Tran / Caterer: Paper Palate / Wedding Cinematography: Living Cinema / Event Planning: onefourthree Events + TACT + Exquisite Weddings / Favors & Gifts: Candles West / Floral Design: Brown Paper Design / Wedding Reception Venue: SmogShoppe / Wedding Dress: Vera Wang / Bride’s Shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo / Wedding Cake: Sweet & Saucy Shop / Wedding Ceremony Location: St. Timothy Catholic Church / Makeup Artist: Sexy Graffiti / Photobooth: PhotoboxLA / Groom & Groomsmen Socks: Paul Smith /  Ties & Bowties: Bacon Handmade Neckwear

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brown Paper Design, CA, Candles West, Caroline Tran, Exquisite Weddings, Grey, LA, Living Cinema, Los Angeles, Modern Wedding, onefourthree Events, Paper Palette, Salvatore Ferragamo, Sexy Graffiti, SmogShoppe, St. Timothy Catholic Church, Succulents, Sweet & Saucy, TACT, Vera Wang, Wooden Benches, Yellow
Post categories: California Weddings, Contemporary, Destination, Los Angeles Weddings

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From Cassandra… Andrea + Phinny… that is probably the only way to start to explain the connection of a pair truly in love, silently romantic, outrageously funny and soon-to-be parents, our bride and groom. These two clever people met on the stage at their theater company and both hit the mark in compatibility. Phinny’s quiet nature allowed for Andrea’s fun filled heart to shine on their wedding day in Malibu, California at Saddle Rock Ranch. While honoring Andrea’s jewish heritage with a beautiful handmade chuppah, the wood arbor provided for a ceremony full of laughter. Many friends participated with musical jingles, full chorus line productions and tibetan sound bowls. Family was certainly a highlight of the day as was a playful school theme (both Andrea & Phinny are teachers) seen throughout with chalkboard signage, wood cut table numbers and an invitation suite that recalled “The Giving Tree” by Shell Silverstein, a classic kids book (created by Hello Lucky!). Their catering selection was of the utmost importance and standard “wedding fare” would not stand a chance on these foodies pallets. Heirloom Catering created a beautiful family style meal that fit the bill along with custom cocktails that were fresh pressed earlier that day. Michael Antonia of Flashdance had the barefoot party swaying along to a mix of oldies and hip-sets that kept this Sunday wedding going well into the night.

Wedding Photography: Erin Hearts Court / Wedding Flowers: Brown Paper Design / Event Design and Planning: Cassandra & Company / Catering: Heirloom LA Catering / Wedding DJ: The Flashdance / Wedding Venue: Saddlerock Ranch / Wedding Invitations: Hello Lucky!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brown Paper Design, California Weddings, Cassandra & Company, Erin Heart's Court, Heirloom Catering, Hello! Lucky, Malibu, Outdoor, Ranch, Rustic Chic, Saddlerock Ranch, The FlashDance
Post categories: California Weddings, Casual Elegance, Los Angeles Weddings

After the ceremony, guests moved to the fire pit lawn where they enjoyed a Lillet cocktail based on Lizzie and Matt’s favorite recipe and an assortment of tray passed hors d’oeuvres which included Sliced new potatoes w/ sourcream & caviar, tuna tartare w/ watermelon & smoked seasalt, rock lobster tacos, and cheese fritters w/ tomato marmalade. Light gray cocktail linens and vintage glass vases in different jewel tones filled with several varieties of white flowers adorned the cocktail tables. The bar was draped in a black and white ticking stripe linen. The escort card display was inspired by Lizzie and Matt’s love for fly fishing. Each dining table was named after a specific fly lure and the display as well as the table names were decorated with hand drawn illustrations of each lure by calligrapher and artist, Cynthia Warren.

The color palette for the whole evening was based off of two of Lizzie’s favorite colors, bright coral pink and a rich turquoise blue. From there we added different accent colors to make each space have it’s own look but still feel cohesive. The inspiration for the look and feel of some of the design elements came from Little Door, one of Lizzie and Matt’s favorite restaurants in Los Angeles. Lizzie has an incredible eye and had an opinion and vision for every aspect of the event. She was a lot of fun to collaborate with and was really inspiring to work with.

For dinner, guests were invited into the Palm Court which is a grassy area filled with palm trees. Custom drape installations by BAM Specialty Fabric Draping created a formal entryway to the space and made the open lawn feel more intimate. We hung chandeliers from the palm trees and brought in a 12′ long mirrored bar for a hint of glamour. The dining linens were a rich turquoise color and were accented by bright coral menu cards, mercury glass vessels, and tons of white hydrangea. Because she could not find the perfect coral pink paper to use for the menu cards, Cynthia Warren decided to paint the paper the exact pantone swatch we picked out. The result had a tactile handmade feel that went perfectly with the rest of the decor. Cynthia created individual cut outs on each menu card to form a window where she attached the calligraphed names of each guest in the place of seating cards. At each guests place setting was a bundle of sparklers tied off with gingham ribbon and a box of matches. The guests dined to the sounds of Ikebe Shakedown, a band flown in from New York.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Alison Events, Brown Paper Design, California Weddings, Cynthia Warren, Max Wanger, Palm Springs, Parker Palm Springs
Post categories: California Weddings, Casual Elegance, Palm Springs Weddings

The wedding design, crafted by two girls that never cease to amaze me, Kelsey at Alison Events and Danielle at Brown Paper Design, just might be the prettiest wedding ever with details that are organically gorgeous and pops of color that scream chic. Max Wanger photographed and as I’ve said more than once on SMP…his work is perfection.

The ceremony took place on the croquet lawn under a large olive tree. Danielle Rowe Zunt of Brown Paper Design added color to the space with a thick carpet of rose pedals down either side of the aisle. White orchids were hung from the tree and puddled on the grass to create a modern backdrop for the ceremony. We wanted to keep the ceremony simple so the only arrangements were two large urns full of bright pink peonies that marked the beginning of the aisle. Lizzie and Matt didn’t have a traditional bridal party of men on one side and women on the other. They chose the important people to them and had those people stand with them without splitting up by gender. They also included their adorable dog Harrison in the ceremony who sported a big pink bow. Lizzie walked down the aisle to a Sufjan Stevens song performed by a banjo player. Lizzie carried an wild bouquet of bright sweet peas, imported fuchsia peonies from New Zealand, and angel grass tied with grosgrain ribbon from France. Lizzie wore a Peter Langer gown. Matt’s boutonniere paired pheasant feathers and euphorbia and was finished with a black and white gingham ribbon. The bridesmaids carried different combinations of white sweetpea, green cigar millet, and white peonies, tied off with wide green satin ribbon.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Alison Events, Brown Paper Design, California Weddings, Max Wanger, Palm Springs, The Parker Palm Springs
Post categories: California Weddings, Casual Elegance, Palm Springs Weddings

From Kelsey…Lizzie and Matt were married at The Parker in Palm Springs. They chose the hotel for its funky ambiance and mid century glamour as well as it’s close proximity to Los Angeles where many of their guests were traveling from. It was important to them to have a wedding location that was a laid back, fun gathering place for all their guests to spend the weekend together.

Most people arrived Thursday night greeted with custom a Maptote bag filled with hand-picked personal favorites of the bride and groom, like lobster gummy candy, In and Out Burger notepads, Hadley’s date cookies, and saltwater taffy. The couple kicked off the weekend with cocktail hour around the Parker firepit complete with a s’mores roasting station. They were welcomed to the Parker with a custom Maptote bag filled with hand picked personal favorites of the bride and groom like lobster gummy candy, In and Out Burger notepads, Hadley’s date cookies, and salt water taffy. Friday night all the guests were bussed off property to a local Mexican restaurant, Las Casuelas Nuevas for a low key rehearsal dinner celebration. They chowed down on traditional Mexican fare while the mariachi band serenaded the guests into the evening.

Saturday was the big day. Lizzie and Matt rented out the Gene Autry residence at the Parker as the main gathering area for all wedding party and family members. The front door was adorned with a huge L and M made out of flowers by Brown Paper Design so all the important people knew they had come to the right place. Fiore Beauty out of Los Angeles set up shop inside the residence and had a full blown hair and makeup production line going. Lizzie let her bridesmaids pick out their own dresses from J Crew in any jewel tone of their choosing. The result was a rainbow of girls which fit in perfectly with the eclectic feel of the wedding.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Alison Events, Brown Paper Design, California Weddings, Max Wanger, Palm Springs, The Parker Palm Springs
Post categories: California Weddings, Casual Elegance, Palm Springs Weddings

A few more details from the girls at Alison Events…Because The Parker only had availability on Friday night for the wedding, we ended up doing the rehearsal dinner on Saturday, making it an after wedding celebration.  It was honestly such a hit that we are thinking of recommending it to all our destination clients.  It was so nice for everyone to be able to enjoy the day after the wedding and not have to be traveling home.  The party that night was so much more relaxed because everyone already knew each other and all the s tressful stuff had already happened.

We decided to have a Mexican theme on Saturday since we already had purchased so many items that were destination specific.  We brought in Danielle Rowe from Brown Paper Design to do the flowers for both the wedding and rehearsal dinner.  The Parker did an authentic Mexican buffet and we decorated the space with pinata’s, Mexican flags, and serape blankets.  Hello Lucky turned around our menu cards in 2 days which were decorated with Mexican flags as well.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. Everything about this rehearsal/could-be wedding is absolutely perfect. It’s left me floating on cloud nine and completely inspired to seek out other similar fetes.Thanks so much to Alison Hotchkiss and the amazing Jose Villa for sharing this with us!

Coming up next, we are announcing the Smock Thank You Note Giveaway!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Alison Hotchkiss, Brown Paper Design, California Weddings, Jose Villa, Palm Springs, Rehearsal Dinner, The Parker Palm Springs
Post categories: Wedding Planners & Designers